It’s clear the national media shows some bias in terms of what teams they broadcast and who they cover. If there wasn’t any bias, I would’ve never started this website.
One of the worst things about the NBA is how they schedule their national TV games. National TV games are important because they allow people who don’t have NBA League Pass to watch other teams play. The NBA schedules and releases all national TV games before players set foot on the court. Because the NBA does it before the season, they have to guess on what teams they think will be good. Naturally, many teams overperform and underperform. Here is the list of every team with how many national TV games they have this season:
Team | National TV Games | % of games on National TV |
Warriors | 39 | 47.5% |
Lakers | 35 | 42.6% |
Celtics | 35 | 42.6% |
76ers | 33 | 40.2% |
Clippers | 32 | 39.0% |
Suns | 32 | 39.0% |
Bucks | 30 | 36.6% |
Nuggets | 28 | 34.1% |
Mavericks | 27 | 32.9% |
Grizzlies | 26 | 31.7% |
Nets | 23 | 28.0% |
Heat | 22 | 26.8% |
Pelicans | 18 | 22.0% |
Hawks | 18 | 19.5% |
Knicks | 16 | 19.5% |
Timberwolves | 16 | 17.1% |
Bulls | 14 | 17.1% |
Trail Blazers | 14 | 11.0% |
Cavaliers | 9 | 11.0% |
Raptors | 9 | 8.5% |
Hornets | 7 | 6.1% |
Wizards | 5 | 6.1% |
Kings | 5 | 6.1% |
Pacers | 4 | 4.9% |
Spurs | 4 | 4.9% |
Rockets | 4 | 4.9% |
Jazz | 4 | 4.9% |
Pistons | 4 | 4.9% |
Magic | 4 | 4.9% |
Thunder | 4 | 4.9% |
It’s not a surprise to anyone that the Warriors have the most appearances on national TV. They were the most recent Finals champions and have one of the most exciting players in NBA history in Stephen Curry. While the NBA had the right intentions, the current Warriors team is not what people want to see on a consistent basis. Since Curry has been hurt a large part of the season, the Warriors haven’t been a fun team to watch and find themselves below expectations with a 29-29 record. Curry makes the Warriors who they are. Without him, they find themselves losing a majority of their games and not playing the Warriors brand of basketball that fans want to see.
The Clippers are another team that have too many national TV games in my opinion. My biggest gripe about the Clippers is that we never know who’s actually going to be taking the court for them. They’re the kingdom of load management, with Kawhi as their sworn leader. He’s only played in 33 out of the 70 games this season. Kawhi’s right hand man, Paul George, also shares the talent of missing games. PG has only played in 43 of the 70 games. Now, are these numbers really a surprise? To me, no. Not at all. As NBA fans we’ve come to expect load management from the Clippers end. They’ve never had a very healthy season since Kawhi and PG linked up. Because of this, the NBA should’ve never considered giving the Clippers as many national TV games as they did (32). They have the 5th most national TV games, and would you even consider them the 5th most exciting team to watch? Even with Kawhi and PG fully healthy?
The Lakers are another team that gets showered in national TV games. Starting to notice a trend of where these teams are from? Like the Clippers, the Lakers were another team expected to face injury problems. Anthony Davis has had glass bones ever since joining the league, and it’s become more-and-more difficult for LeBron to put together a healthy season at 38 years old. But… he is LeBron–where he goes the camera follows. It would just be more interesting for everyone if we didn’t have to watch a sub-par Lakers team get beat without one of their superstars on a consistent basis.
Now, I want to talk about the other team in California. Wait, there’s another team in Cali?? Yes! How could we forget about the Sacramento basketball Kings? The Beam Team has been one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. They have one of the most fun duos in the NBA and have a great way to celebrate a W: LIGHT THE BEAM!! Despite this, we can only catch the Kings six times on national TV. For every one Kings game on national TV, we get five games of the normally banged-up Clippers. This disparity highlights the fact that the national TV schedule shouldn’t be set in stone at the beginning of the year. In my opinion, the NBA should schedule these games two weeks in advance. This would still give organizations time to accommodate the national media while giving the fans more interesting games on a nightly basis. It’s not fun consistently watching the Warriors, Clippers, and Lakers, especially because they’re always hurt.
Basketball entertainment relies on player health unlike any sport. Individual players have more impact in the game of basketball compared to other team sports. Because of this, viewership and ticket sales are reliant on health. When the main player on a team is unhealthy, people are much less likely to watch. Basketball is unlike any sport because fans get to see a player transcend in front of their eyes. The fast-paced play of basketball allows superstars to take over a game unlike any other player in any other sport.
Conclusion: The NBA national media schedule should be more diverse and be open to change depending on player health and team performance.
Many teams clearly don’t get the recognition they deserve. One team shouldn’t have almost half their games nationally televised when seven teams only have 5% on national TV. Furthermore, most of these seven teams’ games were on NBATV–a channel that many cable viewers don’t have. Hopefully the NBA will take notice and we could start being able to watch more teams like the Cavs and the Kings. Until then, enjoy the eternally unhealthy Clippers, Lakers, and Warriors…
留言